13 Things Your Child's Teacher Won't Tell You(look at THIS BS)!

SHINE by Yahoo News ^ | Tue Aug 17, 2010 | Interviews by Neena Samuel

[US Navy Vet]

A look inside a teacher's mind could help you understand lesson plans and maybe even guide your child to perform better.

1. If we teach small children, don’t tell us that our jobs are “so cute” and that you wish you could glue and color all day long.

2. I’m not a marriage counselor. At parent-teacher conferences, let’s stick to Dakota’s progress, not how your husband won’t help you around the house.

[SoftballMominVA]

As a teacher, some of these struck home for me.

2. I’m not a marriage counselor. At parent-teacher conferences, let’s stick to Dakota’s progress, not how your husband won’t help you around the house.

In addition, no I can't tell you have to get little Johnny up, nor am I able to call him at 6:30 in the morning to remind you and him to get up.

3. We’re sick of standardized testing and having to “teach to the test.”

You better believe it.

5. When I hear a loud belch, I remember that a student’s manners are a reflection of his parents'

This was illlustrated at my back to school night when the parent of a student walked in my door and let loose a 5 second belch. His wife giggled, the son high-fived him, and go figure, the son repeated the same act the next day during school.

8. Guys who dribble a ball for a couple of hours a game can make up to $20 million a year. We educate future leaders and make about $51,000 a year.

I've been teaching for almost 15 years and 51k is still well off in my future.

10. Kids dish on your secrets all the time—money, religion, politics, even Dad’s vasectomy.

In the middle of class yesterday a student raised her hand and said out of the middle of no where "If I'm late tomorrow, I have to be at court to tell the judge which parent I want to live with."

11. Please, no more mugs, frames, or stuffed animals. A gift card to Starbucks or Staples would be more than enough. A thank-you note: even better.

The thank you notes I have recieved are worth more than any amount of money I've ever been given.

12. We love snow days and three-day weekends as much as your kid does.

Some truth to that, but I get antsy if we have too many snow days in a row.

13. The students we remember are happy, respectful, and good-hearted, not necessarily the ones with the highest grades.

So true!

I'm not sure which ones are BS in your opinion, but there is truth to all of them.

[sniper63]

Yes, but if the kid gets in trouble, the parents are the 1st to blame the school system also. My SIL and BIL both teach in the public school system and I hear all sorts of horror stories.

[US Navy Vet]

Like one room schools?

[Soothesayer]

You think teaching is easy? Are you insane?! It’s not just hard, it’s IMPOSSIBLE! I’d rather work in a factory for 70 hours a week.

You don’t just stick 30 kids in a room and explain the ABCs, you bear the entire weight of the community and it’s endless problems on your shoulders. Unless the teacher doesn’t care about the kids...then it’s a breeze.

[NorCoGOP]

Try being a Youth Pastor - you hear E V E R Y THING!

The stories I could tell...

The service and sacrifice are worth it, but sometimes...you just gotta think what is WRONG...

with the PARENTS in this country sometimes?

[ClearCase_guy]

That’s a serious problem, and I don’t know what to do either. I suspect that some level of “public school” is unavoidable, but anyone who possibly can would try to seek an alternative. One problem today is that the government actively works to make the alternatives difficult so that most people just default back on public schooling. I’d think to see that reversed.

[OldDeckHand]

"They spend most of March teaching kids how to take the big state tests in April."

Listen to what you're saying. The test isn't the problem, the problem lies with the teachers and the school administrators who allow the time to be spent the way it is.

The taxpayer has not only the right, but the obligation to inspect what they expect. And, what they expect is that the teachers are teaching. The ONLY way to do that is to test the fruits of the teacher's alleged labor. That is accomplished with testing - which shouldn't be called testing, but inspecting.

My wife has been an educator for 25-years. She's a professor of English. She rants, especially this time of year - the start of the school year - about how criminally unprepared her incoming students are - almost incapable of writing anything longer than a tweet. BUT, the students sure know it's ok for little Suzie to have two mommies.

If teachers spent more time teaching, and less time social engineering, the end of the year testing wouldn't be a problem, for anyone.

[frogjerk]

12. We love snow days and three-day weekends as much as your kid does.

No kidding? And teacher's conferences in Atlantic City during the school year, and professional days, and instead of having Columbus Day off we take the week before Columbus day just to make it hard on you, and November might as well be a month off with all of the BS days off, and tons of half days at the end of the year, etc...

[Laulee]

Amen to that. I have worked in public education for over 25 years and don’t make a lot of money. But, since my salary comes from tax payers, I should NOT make a lot of money. Come on educators, get your head out of the clouds and stick to educating children.

And the reason for standardized tests is to INSURE that students know and understand basic information. Why is that so hard to understand?

[a fool in paradise]

4. Kids used to go out and play after school and resolve problems on their own. Now, with computers and TV, they lack the skills to communicate. They don’t know how to get past hurt feelings without telling the teacher and having her fix it.

They didn't always hit upon the right resolution.

Also, when kids are being sexually abused, they are instructed to tell an authority figure, like a teacher.

Don't want to "fix it", find a job that does not carry authority and social work.

I'm sure managers didn't take the job to resolve disputes between coworkers either.

[MrB]

Vouchers.
The parents who care will get their kids to good schools.
Schools would compete for the kids whose parents care, increasing quality and efficiency and service.

The kids whose parents don’t care would still be in the “public” school, but, I’m sorry to say, they were probably “doomed” to low academic performance anyway, due to their parents.

Because this would work, the left opposes vouchers whenever they are brought up.

[Busywhiskers]

That is $51,000 for 9 months of work. It doesn’t include the generous public retirement benefits that allow a lot of teachers to retire in their fifties, unlike most private sector people.

[sodpoodle]

Hey - mine had two rooms;) LOL!!!!

The ideal solution would be much like the original church-affiliated schools. Everyone pitched in - usually with at least one professional teacher. Home-schoolers could accomplish the same thing if there were enough children and funding in a limited area to support a facility. Sadly, there would be too many Federal, STate & local regulations.

[fml]

I can agree with you that #’S 3,4,5,9, and 13 are B.S.

[dan1123]

So they don’t want to be evaluated, and they blame parents for everything wrong with the kids.

Here are some other “Things Your Child’s Teacher Won’t Tell You”

14. Being conservative, Christian, or patriotic means you’re not educated and I’ll make sure to have all my students be liberal atheistic people of the world no matter what you teach them at home.

15. I worship at the altar of education and believe that being educated makes you good

17. Sex education and encouraging teen sex is a good way to break your children’s ties from you, so I’ll make sure to ridicule any sense of chastity or sexual virtue in sex ed.

[ChocChipCookie]

I don’t have an issue with any test. I have an issue with 2-3 months of the school year being wasted teaching to the test.

The whole system is a mess from the top down.

[HIDEK6]

Guys who dribble a ball for a couple of hours a game can make up to $20 million a year. We educate future leaders and make about $51,000 a year.

So why is this my problem?

Learn to dribble a basketball if you want to make the big bucks.

[a fool in paradise]

5. When I hear a loud belch, I remember that a student’s manners are a reflection of his parents’.

When I see 7 reports of teachers molesting their students, it's a reflection on corrupt public schools and the teachers' unions.

[karatemom]

A little pespective: I am a teacher and I am in the process of moving. I have so many little gifts, candles, etc. that are special but require lots of boxes. :) My most cherished possession is the big, think purple folder in which I keep every letter written to me by a student or parent. On those cold, dreary winter days, I get a hot cup of coffee and read each one of those letters and reflect on the writer.

[old and tired]

3. We’re sick of standardized testing and having to “teach to the test.”

You better believe it.

I have long wondered why teachers complain about this aspect of their jobs. I mean, if a kid is being tested on grammar, doesn't teaching to the test mean a child will be taught subject verb agreement, correct usage of pronouns, etc.?

I'm not trying to be snarky. I'd like a real explanation for why teaching to the test bothers teachers so much. I hear the complaint all the time.